Page 61 of Bait and Switch
The thought of him made my blood boil. Part of me wanted to be sure he was updated, because this thing touched all of us. But another part wanted to put my fist through the wall at the idea of even saying his name.
I jabbed at his contact and held the phone to my ear.
He picked up on the second ring, sounding frantic. “Hey man, I just got Coulter’s message. I’m on my way, are you?
Hearing his voice lit a fuse in me. Every ounce of control I had left snapped. “When were you going to tell me that you fucked my girlfriend?”
There was only silence on the line for a couple of enraging seconds, then a low, sheepish, “Oh, uh—”
My vision blurred red as I sped up the highway. “Never. That’s when.” My voice shook with fury. “You fucking suck, asshole. See you at the marina.”
I hung up before he could answer.
CHAPTER 29
JASMINE
Jess stared at the door long after it closed behind Kai. The margarita glass in her hand hovered midair. “What the fuck was that?”
Heat flushed through me, part embarrassment, part panic. The whole restaurant seemed suddenly too bright, too loud. The mariachi music was far too upbeat for the occasion. I squinted like it would help lower the volume, every sound rasping against raw nerves. People weren’t staring, but it felt like they were, every laugh from another table scraping over me like sandpaper.
“Jess, I…” My voice choked. I grabbed for the water glass in front of me but set it back down untouched. “It’s… complicated.”
She arched a brow. “I can see that.”
I fumbled through my purse, fingers clumsy as I dug out a credit card. Waving down the server with a jerky hand, I handed it over as soon as she reached the table. “Can we just close out? Add twenty percent, please.” My pulse thudded in my ears as she nodded and slipped the card into her apron. Every second at that table felt like it was closing in on me.
Jess leaned forward, steady and unblinking. “Talk to me, Jaz. You look like you’re about to crawl out of your skin.”
I rubbed my forehead, trying to think of how to explain. There was no good way to put words to the storm in my chest. “There’s a lot I can’t tell you, because it’s not just my story to tell. And I’ve already opened my big mouth once when I shouldn’t have.” My breath came fast, shallow. “But something is happening, Jess, and I have to know what it is. Because if it’s bad and I caused it…” My throat tightened so hard it hurt. “Then I need to know.”
The server reappeared with the check. I scrawled a quick signature without glancing at the total, shoved the folder back, and stood so fast my chair wobbled.
Jess was already on her feet, bag slung over her shoulder. “Let’s go.”
A rush of gratitude caught me off guard. We’d only known each other a few months, but Jess didn’t hesitate—no questions, no judgments, just action. Ride or die, even without the full picture. The kind of friend you don’t expect to stumble across in adulthood, and one I didn’t deserve after the mess I’d made.
The night pressed hot and heavy, the kind of air that clung no matter how high the AC blasted. Headlights stretched in a long ribbon along the Overseas Highway, the only road in or out of the Keys. Neon signs for tiki bars and seafood joints blurred past, dive shops and motels glowing faint under tired string lights.
I was stuck behind a sedan crawling at the speed limit, every minute an agony. My palms were slick on the wheel, heartbeat hammering in my throat. Headlights behind me smeared in the rearview like a tunnel closing in. Before I could think twice, Iswung into the center turn lane and gunned it, tires buzzing against the faded paint.
Jess clutched the door handle. “Jesus, Jaz—that’s a Miami move. You’re gonna get pulled over.”
“I don’t care about the cops,” I snapped, my eyes locked on the road. My heart raced. “They’re already on the way.”
Jess said nothing after that, but I felt her stare, sharp and worried, as I floored it toward the marina.
Fear buzzed through me, a sick high I was tired of. Faith and Waylan on the way. If there was an investigation, it could paint a bullseye on all of us. The smugglers would assume we’d turned them in, whether it was true or not. Retaliation wouldn’t be a maybe—it would be inevitable. Kai’s question came back to haunt me: Did I want to be responsible for them all having to go into witness protection? The memory nauseated me now. Was that what I’d done? Was that what this was?
Hopelessness pressed on my chest. What if the smugglers had caused an incident—hurt someone—and it was somehow traced back to us? My thoughts turned darker, to the story I’d been told of Kylie, gone last year at the hands of a hired gun with narco ties. A cold shiver threaded through my ribs, sharp and unrelenting. Had they killed someone again? Was everyone in the family even okay?
As I turned into the marina lot, the flash of a black-and-white patrol car made my stomach plummet. Shit. Shit. Shit. They were already here. My worst fear, parked in plain sight under the buzzing sodium lights. “Fuck,” I said to Jess while flinging off my seatbelt. “I’ll be right back.”
She nodded at me with wide eyes.
At the tiki, string lights threw a low halo over the dock—fans chopping humid air, bait pumps humming. I spotted Kai, Coulter, Reef, and Spence at a table with Faith… and an older man in uniform I didn’t recognize.
But not Corinne.
